Related papers: Gas Giant Simulations of Eddy-Driven Jets Accompan…
We present highlights from a large set of simulations of a hot Jupiter atmosphere, nominally based on HD 209458b, aimed at exploring both the evolution of the deep atmosphere, and the acceleration of the zonal flow or jet. We find the…
Jupiter's equatorial eastward zonal flows reach wind velocities of ~100 m/s, while on Saturn they are three times as strong and extend about twice as wide in latitude, despite the two planets being overall dynamically similar. Recent…
The zonal flow in Jupiter's upper troposphere is organized into alternating retrograde and prograde jets, with a prograde (superrotating) jet at the equator. Existing models posit as the driver of the flow either differential radiative…
Context. Atmospheric superrotating flows at the equator are an almost ubiquitous result of simulations of hot Jupiters, and a theory explaining how this zonally coherent flow reaches an equilibrium has been developed in the literature.…
The Cassini mission unveiled the intense and diverse activity in Saturn's atmosphere: banded jets, waves, vortices, equatorial oscillations. To set the path towards a better understanding of those phenomena, we performed high-resolution…
The giant planet atmospheres exhibit alternating prograde (eastward) and retrograde (westward) jets of different speeds and widths, with an equatorial jet that is prograde on Jupiter and Saturn and retrograde on Uranus and Neptune. The jets…
The nature and structure of the observed east-west flows on Jupiter and Saturn has been one of the longest-lasting mysteries in planetary science. This mystery has been recently unraveled due to the accurate gravity measurements provided by…
Gaseous giants are characterized by their deep atmospheres, which lack clear boundaries with their interiors; therefore, their internal states could directly influence atmospheric dynamics. So far, most modeling studies have considered deep…
Numerous land and space-based observations have established that Saturn has a persistent hexagonal flow pattern near its north pole. While observations abound, the physics behind its formation is still uncertain. Although several…
Efforts to characterize extrasolar giant planet (EGP) atmospheres have so far emphasized planets within 0.05 AU of their stars. Despite this focus, known EGPs populate a continuum of orbital separations from canonical hot Jupiter values…
The observed surface dynamics of Jupiter and Saturn is dominated by a banded system of zonal winds. Their depth remains unclear but they are thought to be confined to the very outer envelopes where hydrogen remains molecular and the…
A mechanism by which the surface zonal flows of giant planets can be gradually attenuated with depth is explored. The zonal flow is driven by an imposed forcing in a thin layer near the surface. A meridional circulation is set up, analogous…
The mean zonal flow observed on Jupiter consists of an intricate pattern of jets, or bands of zonal flow moving prograde or retrograde compared to the bulk planetary rotation. The strongest flow is a superrotating (prograde) jet near the…
The eddy-driven jet stream and storm tracks in the mid-latitude atmosphere are known to shift in latitude on various timescales, but the physical processes that cause these shifts are still unclear. In this study, we introduce a minimal…
The surface winds of Jupiter and Saturn are primarily zonal. Each planet exhibits strong prograde equatorial flow flanked by multiple alternating zonal winds at higher latitudes. The depth to which these flows penetrate has long been…
Intense east-west winds called zonal jets are observed in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn and extend in their deep interior. We present experimental results from a fully three-dimensional laboratory analog of deep gas giants zonal…
Tidally locked gas giants are typically in several-day orbits, implying a modest role for rotation in the atmospheric circulation. Nevertheless, there exist a class of gas-giant, highly irradiated objects---brown dwarfs orbiting white…
The atmospheric circulation in the upper atmosphere of hot Jupiter planets is strongly influenced by the incoming stellar radiation. In this work we explore the results from a 3D atmospheric model and revisit the main processes driving the…
Ultra-hot Jupiters, an extreme class of planets not found in our solar system, provide a unique window into atmospheric processes. The extreme temperature contrasts between their day- and night-sides pose a fundamental climate puzzle: how…
The form of the solar meridional circulation is a very important ingredient for mean field flux transport dynamo models. Yet a shroud of mystery still surrounds this large-scale flow, given that its measurement using current helioseismic…